Application to run massive power line through Va. withdrawn

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/29/AR2009122902973.html

By David A. Fahrenthold Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The backers of a proposed electricity-transmission line from West Virginia to Maryland have asked to withdraw their application to run parts of it through Virginia, citing a study that shows its power will not be needed as soon as they had predicted.

That request is the latest setback for the proposed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH), a joint venture of Pennsylvania-based Allegheny Energy and Ohio-based American Electric Power. . .

"We remain committed to the project," said David Neurohr, a spokesman for Allegheny Energy. "We're saying we'd better have the full-blown, comprehensive . . . information in our hands before we go forward."

. . . In a series of public hearings -- in Loudoun County and other places in the line's path -- residents had criticized it as an unnecessary blight on rural areas and scenic views. . .

Earthjustice staff attorney Abigail Dillen said her group had contended that, because of a declining economy and improvements in energy-efficiency, the East Coast did not need the line's power. She said the line would have high environmental costs, because it would bring in energy from coal-burning power plants in the Ohio River Valley.

"We feel really vindicated" by the new data about electrical demand, Dillen said. "Because this is precisely what we've been saying."

South PAT Meeting #4: Preliminary Routes

As I was told by a patient man attending the PAT meetings, Idaho Power's efforts in its community advisory process may be more clumsy than cynical. Perhaps he is right.

Tuesday's meeting included a discussion of why the route following Idaho Power's Treasure Valley Electrical Loop (submitted last February) involves engineering constraints and unacceptable risks and must be abandoned, and why Idaho Power's pre-defined Study Area (the limits in which they wish to keep all route boundaries) also precludes the two Idaho routes drawn outside of it. Which means three Idaho routes were taken off the map before any analysis began. Exception to the limits was taken and noted.

This information would have been helpful a long time ago, before it could be construed that cynicism or double-dealing has been driving decision-making, and the not-so-subtle impression of metaphysical certitude that this will end up mostly in Oregon. It would have been helpful to be able to contribute to the constraints under which Tetra Tech formulated its original proposed Red Route, which precipitated last year's uproar in the first place, until many months had passed and we were finally considered worthy of engagement.

Tuesday's meeting presented thorough and helpful material and addressed a year's worth of questions. As rocky and fraught with misunderstanding as this community process has been, at least we are closer to understanding one another, and if we do not agree, we have stayed engaged.

There was even preliminary agreement among the Oregon and Idaho groups on what routes would eventually be acceptable, and which will most likely be abandoned. One of the biggest causes of resentment in this process has been routes being drawn by out-of-county NIMBY proponents, leading to some wild or erroneous lines obviously headed for abandonment. It might have helped to request that all Oregon and Idaho groups draw at least one route they could live with inside their own county lines.

It was announced that analysis for all remaining routes was necessary to proceed. Some lobbied for an immediate conclusive route vote, which, as the same patient man warned, would be a mistake in the counter-regulatory climate of Idaho, which stands to benefit most from the power supplied and where the political pull operates most locally, and Oregon, with the stronger legal position when it comes to the placement of utility corridors even as its farmers have far less freedom to do what they want with their property.

So we will meet again following more route analysis, in a stronger position to be able to defend the routes that seem to be headed for approval. Rosemary and her group have been dogged in their facilitation and appear to be earning whatever they are getting paid. I suppose being a facilitator would be a good way to lose weight through enormous stress, but it's one method I wouldn't want to try.

Idaho Power schedules public meeting for Dec. 17

by Ed Merriman Dec. 4, 2009 http://www.bakercityherald.com/Local-News/Idaho-Power-schedules-public-meeting-set-for-Dec-17

After a series of fall meetings in Grant and Harney counties, Idaho Power officials are preparing to resubmit plans to the Bureau of Land Management for building a 500-kilovolt transmission line with proposed routes across Baker County.

Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power’s community advisory process leader, said meetings in Grant and Harney produced no new or alternative routes for building the proposed Boardman to Hemingway transmission line through those counties.

“These weren’t routes that were proposed by Idaho Power. They were proposed by a central project team representing Baker and Union counties, and the southern team in Malheur County,” said Piper Hyman of Idaho Power corporate communications.

McCarthy said meetings were held over the past two months in Burns, John Day and Mount Vernon after the central and southern project teams made a proposal in September to shift the proposed transmission line from Malheur, Baker and Union counties to an alternate route across Harney and Grant counties.

He said the meetings were well attended (a total of about 25 people at Burns and 70 at the John Day and Mount Vernon meetings), but instead of presenting alternative routes, residents of Harney and Grant counties presented arguments against putting the proposed transmission line across their counties.
Due to the higher projected cost and greater length for a transmission line across Harney County, McCarthy said locals felt it would be better to pursue a shorter and less costly route across Malheur and Baker counties.

McCarthy said locals argued that the potential environmental damage, including damage to wildlife habitat, should rule out any route across Grant County.

“I don’t want to say they said ‘not in my county,’ ” McCarthy said. “We are not trying to pit county against county. They gave us some very well thought out reasons” for opposing building the transmission line across Grant and Harney counties.

“We don’t know what to do next over there, since there were no routes or route adjustments” proposed by representatives of the local government, landowners, community members and environmental groups who attended the meetings in Grant and Harney counties, McCarthy said.

Idaho Power cancelled a Wednesday meeting in Baker City and rescheduled it for 4 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Best Western Sunridge Inn.

That meeting will update Baker-area residents on the Grant and Harney meetings, and provide details of an analysis being completed by TetraTech engineering consultants on some 45 potential segments for the proposed Boardman to Hemingway transmission line.

“The analysis hasn’t been completed yet, but we didn’t want the (Baker-area) team members to go a long time without knowing what the status was,” McCarthy said. “We will have some analysis to present on each individual section of the transmission line.”

“We invite people to the team meetings, but anybody who shows up is welcome. We put the names on the list of anyone who shows up at a meeting, and send them notices and invitations to future meetings, so the teams tend to grow,” he said.

In addition to information on siting the transmission line, McCarthy said TetraTech has also collected the data and has completed much, but not all, of its analysis of the northern route through Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Due to opposition that surfaced last spring, Idaho Power withdrew its original transmission line application with BLM in May, as well as a National Environmental Protection Act review.

McCarthy said the original transmission line application was withdrawn in part to consider suggestions from the counties.

Idaho Power has approximately 470,000 customers in Idaho and 19,000 customers in Eastern Oregon, mostly in Malheur County and the southern part of Baker County as far north as Durkee.

McCarthy said the transmission line has been proposed to bring energy from the Boardman area and other parts of the Northwest into the Boise area and southern Idaho, and to increase the electricity carrying capacity of the Northwest power grid, which carries power back and forth between the California/Nevada region and the Northwest.

“I can’t say we aren’t building this transmission line to transmit energy to California,” McCarthy said.

He said the transmission line is needed to accommodate energy transmission both ways, since power from California is transmitted to the Northwest during those seasons when demand in this region is higher, and in turn power generated in the Northwest during the spring and summer is transmitted to California.

McCarthy said the power grids that allow the transmission of power along that route and into Southern Idaho are nearing full capacity, and the proposed Boardman to Hemingway line is needed to accommodate projected growth in energy demand.

Getting residents and project teams from different areas to agree on where the transmission lines should be routed, however, has cost the company millions of dollars and taken longer than expected. McCarthy said Idaho Power has had to extend it’s projected completion timeline from 2013 to 2015.

With a tentative goal of resubmitting the transmission line route applications to BLM, the Oregon Energy Facilities Siting Council and to a NEPA review, Hyman said Idaho Power is planning to present route analysis and mapping information to local project teams during January.

The goal is hone in on a primary route and a secondary route by the end of January, and then submit new applications on those routes in February, if possible.

She said the purpose of the local project teams is to “leverage the expertise and knowledge of people living in these areas, who know where farmland and environmentally sensitive areas, and wildlife habitat are, so we can adjust the (proposed transmission line routes) to accommodate that.”

Hyman said this is the first time she is aware within the current environmental era where a project of the scope of the proposed Boardman to Hemingway transmission line has been proposed.

“People weren’t as outspoken in the past as they are now,” Hyman said. “It’s a different world, and probably better for that.”

South PAT Meeting #4: Ethical Considerations

From the Powerpoint Presentation for South PAT Meeting #3 on Sept 30, Slide #22: "The TEAMS will begin revising and eliminating routes."

IPCo did not list any specific "Engineering Constraints" until Nov. 3o, after 44 routes were drawn based on existing constraints at the time. It is not ethical to eliminate routes based on unknown constraints.

IPCo needs to read and FOLLOW its own process outlined in Meeting #3, or admit that Tuesday's Meeting #4 will simply be a rubber stamp process, without validity when it comes to community input.

Boardman to Hemingway Project South Project Advisory Team Meeting #4

December 8, 2009 • 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Four Rivers Cultural Center 676 SW 5th Ave, Ontario, Oregon 97914

AGENDA

Meeting objectives:

• Present analysis methods

• Present analysis conducted to date of each PAT proposed route (44 routes proposed)

4:00 p.m.

Welcome – Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Leader

4:10 p.m.

Team Business – Rosemary Curtin, Facilitator

4:20 p.m.

Idaho Power recommendations – Dave Angell, Idaho Power, Manager of Delivery &

Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Leader

• Routes not to be advanced

• November 30 meeting

5:00 p.m.

Grant and Harney input - Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Leader

5:15 p.m.

Presentation of how analysis was conducted – Tetra Tech

• Tables of opportunities, constraints and rating

Initial analysis of PAT proposed routes – Tetra Tech

• Overview of opportunities, constraints and rating for each route

6:30 p.m.

Dinner

7:00 p.m.

Revised PAT proposed routes – Tetra Tech

• Adjustments made to improve routes

Comparison of PAT proposed routes (geographic grouping) – Tetra Tech

• Likelihood of being permitted

• Ease of construction

• Cost

PAT input

8:45 p.m.

Next steps

• Discuss further detailed analysis

• Select proposed and alternative routes to submit to BLM

The Devil's Invitation

Power company needs to give county a chance to think
From the Blue Mountain Eagle. http://eastoregonian.com/main.asp?SectionID=14&SubSectionID=50&ArticleID=100906

Message to Idaho Power: slow down.

Grant County only recently was drawn into the fray over a new mega-transmission line, and we deserve time to sort out our concerns and document our stand.

Not decades, but a reasonable amount of time. At least as much time as the utility gave to our neighbors to the east - the ones who said "put it in Grant County." That little bit of NIMBY aside, it's only fair to allow us to catch our breath before the decision is made for us.

Idaho Power officials have suggested Grant County has always been in the loop for this project. They say we were included when they divvied up the territory for their north, central and south project advisory teams.

That suggestion begs credulity, however, as Idaho Power's original route proposal was down Interstate 84. Neither the publicity for the team meetings nor the Idaho Power Web site gave any hint a route could touch Grant County. It's not reasonable to suggest Grant County residents would turn out in droves for meetings in Baker City and Ontario that ostensibly had nothing to do with Grant County.

Yet here we are today, being asked to chart a route for this monstrosity through our county. (And do it quick - so Idaho Power can present its own recommendation in January or February. . . )

Forgive some of us in Grant County for feeling we haven't been given a chance to decline the devil's invitation. Idaho Power already has drawn up our dance card and we are left to wonder whether the consequences will be worse if we take to the floor or sit this one out . . .

We want that time, Idaho Power. It's only fair.

Note to Grant County: "Fair" and "Idaho Power" are mutually exclusive concepts. They've already thrown out three Project Advisory Team proposed routes through Idaho with no valid reason why. If you live in Idaho, money and political clout have their advantages.

The 2009 IRP Draft Load Forecast

From a letter to Barton L. Kline, senior attorney for Idaho Power Company, from the Industrial Customers of Idaho Power, dated November 20, 2009:

I write on behalf of the Industrial Customers of Idaho Power ("ICIP") to comment on Idaho Power's November 2009 Draft Sales and Load Forecast ("Draft Load Forecast"), which Mark Stokes provided to the Integrated Resources Plan Advisory Council ("IRPAC") on November 4, 2009. . .

Although the Draft Load Forecast is preliminary and may not be technically subject to any formal discovery requirements, it is useful to keep in mind the right of interested parties to review pertinent data and models underlying an electric utility's IRP prior to its acceptance or acknowledgement by a state's utility commission. . .

Without convincing data, ICIP is skeptical the economy will recover as rapidly as the Company expects. The Draft Load Forecast expects the economy to recover rapidly to the levels experienced in the 1993 to 2003 period in the next few years. We expect the economy to recover more slowly and do not expect the near-term growth rate will increase as rapidly as the Company predicts. . .

In sum, ICIP is skeptical of the accuracy of the Draft Load Forecast's projected growth rates without access to additional supporting data and models. We hope that Idaho Power will provide . . . access to the underlying data and models for its final load forecast so that ICIP and others may adequately participate and comment in the IRP process. . .

"Project Order and Idaho Route Meeting"

In response to a request for a meeting concerning our reservations about the outcome of the mostly-Oregon mapping, we have been invited to meet with Idaho Power officials Monday, November 30th, 4-8 p.m. at the Community House of Kirkpatrick Church in Parma, Idaho.

Please RSVP Kara Veit at (208) 377-9688 if you want to attend this meeting.

Meeting objectives:
• Discuss the Oregon Department of Energy’s Boardman to Hemingway Project Order
• Discuss the (presumptive?) project area and proposed routes in Idaho

4:00 p.m.
Welcome and introductions
• Welcome – Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Project Leader
• Introductions and agenda – Rosemary Curtin, facilitator
4:10 p.m.
Project Order – Adam Bless, Oregon Department of Energy
• Overview
• Questions and answers
5:10 p.m.
Boardman to Hemingway project area – Dave Angell, Idaho Power
6:10 p.m.
Dinner
6:30 p.m.
Presentations and discussion with:
• Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) – Idaho representative
• U.S. Forest Service (USFS) – Idaho representative – (Tentative)
• BLM recently participated in three panel discussions for the CAP. (Correspondence from the BLM is available for reference.)
7:30 p.m.
Next steps

Adam Bless of the Oregon Department of Energy will present information on the Project Order, which encourages Idaho Power to route an Idaho corridor as a valid solution to the problems of routing through Oregon. We understand that the ODOE itself does not choose the route, but the Energy Facility Siting Council has the power to deny what routes are proposed across Oregon.

More importantly, it is the disregarding of our requests for information and meetings providing for even-handed mapping of Idaho routes, (as in IPC's original Treasure Valley Electrical Plan loop around the greater Boise area, including the proposed Gateway West south corridor,) that has us wondering why all Idaho routes have been jettisoned in favor of ANY viable alternative through Oregon.

We hope these concerns will be addressed Monday evening.

PGE’s New Power Line: Is This Something We Really Need?

"Cascade Crossing" picks up where Boardman to Hemingway leaves off.

by Dennis Newman, Nov. 13, 2009 http://www.naturaloregon.org/2009/11/13/pges-new-power-line-is-this-something-we-really-need/

In the past two weeks, Portland General Electric has held several public meetings about its plans for a new high voltage power line.

Called Cascade Crossing, PGE wants to build a 200-mile, double circuit, 500-kilovolt power line from Boardman to Salem. Along the way, it crosses two national forests and the Warm Springs reservation. If all goes according to plan, construction will begin in late 2012 and the power line will be operating during the first half of 2015. . .

Do We Really Need This Power Line?

PGE warns that our current transmission system to close to capacity. Despite the growth in population and the increased demand for electricity over the past 25 years, no new major power lines have been built. Without this power line, PGE says our grid may become unreliable, raising the odds of power outages or brown outs. It also says this line will help bring in more renewable energy from the wind farms in Eastern Oregon. It says that will help Oregon meet state mandates to get 15% of our power from renewable energy by 2015. . .

As we’ve seen recently, PGE isn’t the only company proposing a new power line in the area. The Bonneville Power Administration is looking at a 70-mile high voltage line in SW Washington and a 28-mile line that runs through the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area. In Eastern Oregon, Idaho Power wants to build a 300-plus mile high voltage line from Boardman to SW Idaho.

How Do Projects Like These Affect The Forest and Wildlife?

. . . (Amy) Harwood (of the environmental group Bark) says energy corridors impact the forest in a number of ways. Creating a new path of clear cut makes it easier for invasive weeds to spread into the forest. Not only does it give them a foothold, but without tree cover the weeds thrive and become harder to control. . .

The Coalition for Agriculture's Future

Southwest Idaho group forms around concern for farmland's future
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/southwest_idaho_group_forms_ov.html

(AP) Nov. 22 A coalition concerned about protecting farmland from uncontrolled growth and development in southwest Idaho has formed.

The Coalition for Agriculture’s Future includes about 30 groups with interests ranging from farming to food processing to wine making to meat-packing .

George Crookham, the coalition’s chairman, told the Idaho Press-Tribune that the coalition is concerned about the future of valuable farmland. . .

From the Coalition's website: http://www.agriculturesfuture.org/Index.htm

"The Coalition works to help maintain agricultural lands for the future by developing mechanisms that incorporate future looking planning in land use issues that will allow both development and protection of our agricultural heritage and traditions.

"Our ultimate goal is to preserve for future generations a critical natural resource that feeds the world and a heritage that helps define the character of its society. "

Idaho Power's 2009 IRP

Rocky Barker still on the job reporting on Idaho's energy needs

Will Idaho Power shut down some of its coal plants in the next 20 years? by Rocky Barker, 11/10/2009

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2009/11/10/rockybarker/will_idaho_power_shut_down_some_its_coal_plants_next_20_years

I sat through Idaho Power’s Integrated Resource Planning meeting last week. That is where the utility lays out its future plans to a group of customers, environmental advocates and Idaho Public Utility Commission staff for their comments. The idea is the company gets feedback for its plans to build or buy power generation for the next 20 years.

It’s hard for anyone to look at what will be going on 20 years from now and the plans they make this year will clearly be changed as the utility moves along. But there are key decisions that will set long term paths that will have a major impact on Idaho Power’s rates as time goes on.

When will the company need to build its proposed transmission line from Boardman, Oregon to the Hemingway substation west of Boise? Will it be cheaper over the long run to build expensive solar generation plants in the deserts of Idaho or on people’s roofs than to build more natural gas plants?

Idaho Power’s preferred alternative is to build the transmission line and use natural gas plants to meet its peaking needs.

Earlier this year, the company’s shareholders voted strongly to push the company to do more to prepare to do business in a time of climate change. Its immediate plans don’t seem to reflect that much.

But when you move out to the second 10 years of its planning cycle the utility clearly is looking at a regulatory world where actually reducing existing coal generation makes sense. Its preferred alternative depends on natural gas wind power and the completion of the Gateway West transmission line into Wyoming to meet the need.

Idaho Power is looking at choosing that over keeping all of its coal plants operating. The preferred alternative doesn’t including nuclear, solar or more geothermal as its so-called “nuclear/green” alternative recommends.

Ultimately the most power will come over the next 20 years from improvements in energy efficiency and virtually all experts seem to agree. That’s why the $47 million smart grid stimulus grant is so influential in the company’s future.

Some industrial customers worry that Idaho Power may consider retiring some of its coal plants before the plants are paid off, leaving customers with the stranded costs. And environmentalists worry they may put more capital expenditures in old coal plants like the Boardman Coal Plant shared with Portland General Electric and others.

PGE including adding all the pollution control devices that would be needed to keep the Boardman plant open in its own integrated resource plan proposal. If PGE’s proposal is approved, the plant would require $600 million in new investment. Idaho Power's share is 10% or $60 million, said Betsy Bridge of the Idaho Conservation League.

Bridge thinks that $60 million would be better invested in alternative energy or efficiency programs. Perhaps Idaho Power’s first test for its own commitment to curtailing its coal resource over time will be whether it commits to spending the $60 million for Boardman.

Nuclear Plant Plan on Track

Second firm looks at Payette County for site of a new nuclear power plant
By Brandi Stromberg Argus Observer Nov. 18, 2009 http://www.argusobserver.com/news/doc4b044530ca4a2777545774.txt

Payette — The spokesman for a firm looking to build a nuclear power plant in Payette County said atomic energy is more cost effective than conventional sources.

Don Gillispie, 66, Eagle, one of seven owners of the firm Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc., said his company first began to look at Idaho as a viable place for a nuclear power plant several years ago. . .

Gillispie said the proposed plant could produce at least 5,000 jobs during its construction and about 1,000 jobs during operation. He said the tax intake, alone, will be beneficial to the county as a revenue, generating nearly $100 million in property taxes. Construction costs would be near $10 billion and will begin after land acquisition, hopefully in 2013. The plant has a 60-year life span and will essentially be more efficient and beneficial to the county than a solar or hydro-energy power plant, he said. Gillispie said the average salary for a nuclear power plant engineer is around $80,000.

Gillispie said the company currently operates eight plants in the Midwest. He said the proposed plant is an advanced plant, and no others exist in the world like it. Gillispie said he enjoys being a good neighbor to local businesses, charities and the population in general. He said they donate their time, resources and thousands of dollars annually.

“We try to be good neighbors,” Gillispie said. “Part of this company is trying to give back to the people.”

The Payette County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday regarding the proposed nuclear plant. If anyone would like to contact Gillispie or visit the Web site, Gillispie encourages questions, concerns and comments about the proposal. The Web site address is www.aehipower.com and the email is info@aehipower.com. . .

Idaho's generation capacity

We've reported on Alternate Energy Holdings' efforts to establish a nuclear energy presence in Idaho. In looking over their website, http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com/ you might find the following pdf article interesting:

"Idaho ranks near the bottom of western states preparing to add generation capacity" http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com/Portals/51/Media/Files/aehinews052609.pdf

The date of the article is May of this year, so perhaps the effort to get CHP and solar energy online since then, are an effort by Idaho Power to rectify the situation.

One man's trash: Landfill operator plans gas generator

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/local/article_0d72324c-cdc2-11de-87fb-001cc4c03286.html Nate Poppino, Magic Valley Times News 11/10/09

That bag of trash you're about to toss could soon power someone's home.

Southern Idaho Solid Waste is looking to build a methane-fueled generator at Milner Butte Landfill, which was established in the early 1990s in southern Cassia County and houses trash tossed by residents of seven south-central Idaho counties.

A methane-gas collection system came online in September and is currently feeding data to Josh Bartlome, the environmental specialist conducting the system's initial testing. The landfill's methane gas currently flows at between 315 and 330 standard cubic feet per minute, more than enough to support a generator in the future, Bartlome said. . .

Milner Butte would become only the second landfill in Idaho to generate power from methane gas and sell it back to a utility. The only landfill that currently has such a sales agreement is the one run by Ada County, said Gene Fadness, spokesman for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.

There, county officials partnered with a private company four years ago to set up generators now supplying 3.2 megawatts to Idaho Power Co. - enough to power 2,400 homes. The company supplied and owns the generators and buys the gas from the county, paying about $225,000 a year, said Ted Hutchinson, Ada County's landfill manager. The arrangement works well enough that the county is currently drilling more gas wells that the company might then expand to include. . .

Power line packs the house

by Scott Callister 10/28/2009 Blue Mountain Eagle http://MyEagleNews.com subscriber only

JOHN DAY - More than 70 people turned out last week to pore over maps and charts as Idaho Power unveiled recent, close-to-home proposals for its 500-kilovolt transmission line.

For many, the information was sobering.

"Grant County doesn't stand to get anything out of this, but it would rob us forever of being a premier jewel in terms of scenic and recreational attractions. . . "

. . . The line has drawn stiff opposition in some . . . counties, where residents recently suggested shifting the route to the west - through Grant and Harney counties. . .

(. . . or east into Ada and Gem counties. . . )

Routing meeting cancelled

We received the following emails over the past week:

The November 4th email:

We anticipate to hold a meeting next week on Thursday, November 12th to discuss the Project Order and routing in Idaho (for more information about the Project Order please go to http://www.boardmantohemingway.com/odoe-efsc_documents.aspx).

Several Project Advisory Team members have requested a meeting to specifically discuss these issues and we are working diligently to meet this request. We are currently waiting to confirm a facility and schedule Idaho panelists before this date is confirmed.

Please save the date November 12th and by the end of the week we will notify you to confirm this date. If the meeting is not held next week it will be scheduled for the first or second week of December.

Thank you for your patience. We appreciate your continued participation in the Community Advisory Process.

The November 9th email:

The November 12, 2009 meeting to discuss the Project Order and routing in Idaho meeting has been cancelled. We are currently working to reschedule this meeting. Our goal is to have this meeting before our fourth Project Advisory Team meeting to be held in December.

Idaho Power hopes to submit its 2009 IRP, including viable route(s), by the end of December.

Initial Proposed B2H Routes

If you haven't been to the Boardman to Hemingway site lately, you can take a look at the routes proposed during the mapping sessions. The link can be found here:

http://www.boardmantohemingway.com/idaho_power_CAP_maps.aspx

N, C and S stand for North, Central and South team member routes. Some are conceptual and some are more accurately drawn. Information on individual routes and comment responses has been made available by Idaho Power.

You can download the "Initial Proposed Routes Map" pdf here:

http://www.boardmantohemingway.com/documents/CAP_PATInitialRoutes_1.pdf

Report Argues for a Decentralized System of Renewable Power Generation

10/30 by Jim Witkin http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/report-argues-for-a-de-centralized-system-of-renewable-power-generation/

Most states could meet their demand for electricity with renewable energy sources inside their own borders, according to a new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit group in Washington that advocates for local sustainability solutions.

The report, called Energy Self-Reliant States, examined the commercial potential for wind, rooftop solar, geothermal and small-scale hydro projects.

Thirty-one states, mostly west of the Mississippi, could meet all their electric demand, and all states could generate at least 25 percent of their demand using these in-state resources, the authors of the report suggest. . .

The report advocated strongly for state and local control over these renewable energy assets and a decentralized approach to electricity generation: building small-scale, distributed energy facilities and upgrading the transmission and distribution systems within each state. . .

President Obama Announces $3.4 Billion Investment to Spur Transition to Smart Energy Grid

Where the smart grid money is coming from. . .

The White House Office of the Press Secretary October 27, 2009
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-34-billion-investment-spur-transition-smart-energy-grid

Applicants say investments will create tens of thousands of jobs, save energy and empower consumers to cut their electric bills

ARCADIA, FLORIDA – Speaking at Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, President Barack Obama today announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the nation’s transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system. The end result will promote energy-saving choices for consumers, increase efficiency, and foster the growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

The $3.4 billion in Smart Grid Investment Grant awards are part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and will be matched by industry funding for a total public-private investment worth over $8 billion. Applicants state that the projects will create tens of thousands of jobs, and consumers in 49 states will benefit from these investments in a stronger, more reliable grid. . .

An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the implementation of smart grid technologies could reduce electricity use by more than 4 percent by 2030. That would mean a savings of $20.4 billion for businesses and consumers around the country, and $1.6 billion for Florida alone -- or $56 in utility savings for every man, woman and child in Florida.

One-hundred private companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners received awards today, including FPL which will use its $200 million in funding to install 2.6 million smart meters and other technology that will cut energy costs for its customers. In the coming days, Cabinet Members and other Administration officials will fan out to awardee sites across the country to discuss how this investment will create jobs, improve the reliability and efficiency of the electrical grid, and help bring clean energy sources from high-production states to those with less renewable generating capacity. The awards announced today represent the largest group of Recovery Act awards ever made in a single day and the largest batch of Recovery Act clean energy grant awards to-date. . .

Wind energy's success creates a power grid challenge

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/10/wind_powers_success_spurs_new.html

by Matthew Preusch 10/29/2009 The Oregonian

The rows of white turbines spinning over wheat fields and ridgelines in eastern Oregon are ample evidence that renewable energy from wind is real and growing.

So much so that the aging network of transmission lines and power stations that carries energy around the region is loaded to its limits.

But wind developers are just getting started. And thousands of miles of new power lines carried by skyscraper-sized steel towers will need to be laid across deserts, farms and forests as more wind farms rise in farther-flung corners of Oregon and the West.

It won't be cheap, or without controversy.

More than half of Oregon is public land that Oregonians value for recreation, unobstructed vistas and habitat for sensitive species. And the cleared corridors that accommodate such transmission lines cut a wide swath. . .

Oregon ranks fifth among states for wind power capacity. It now gets 7 percent of its power from wind, versus 1 percent a few years ago. And the state will require large utilities to source a quarter of the power they sell from renewable resources such as wind by 2025. . .

Northwest projects

PGE proposes building a 200-mile, 500-kilovolt line from near Boardman in northeast Oregon, across the Cascade Mountains and into the Willamette Valley, one of a half-dozen or so proposed transmission projects in the Northwest. . .

PGE hopes to break ground in 2013 and have the line up and running two years later.

But building a transmission line is complicated. Terrain varies. Transmission towers are up to 190 feet tall, and they are built in corridors 125 to 250 feet wide that have to be kept clear of trees.

"These corridors have a long-term environmental impact in that they are permitted clear-cuts. Most of the time they are hundreds of feet wide, and that impacts wildlife habitat and clean water," said Erik Fernandez, wilderness coordinator for the group Oregon Wild. . .

New lines often mean new rights of way, and across the American West, there are about 10,000 miles of new high-voltage lines -- those exceeding 200 kilovolts -- being considered in the next 10 years, according to the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. At a meeting of Western governors in June, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal lamented that transmission lines could make his state look like a jumbled plate of spaghetti.

"We are talking about in a very short time span having a massive build-out of the power infrastructure. And if we do this the wrong way, there's going to be a large price tag environmentally," Fernandez said. . .

Idaho counties back Gateway West power line alternative

I'm late posting Andre Meunier's August 19th Oregonian story: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/08/idaho_counties_back_gateway_we.html

BOISE -- Five counties plan to back an alternative route for a proposed Wyoming-to-Idaho power transmission line next Monday, contending the path now favored by two utilities bankrolling the $2 billion project cuts a disruptive swath through too much private land. . .

The alternative favored by Idaho's Bannock, Oneida, Power, Cassia, and Twin Falls counties includes a detour further south along Idaho's border with Utah and Nevada.

The counties and a lobbying group that calls itself "Move It" have been working with the BLM and private contractors for several months to develop an alternative transmission corridor for Gateway West, as well as any other transmission projects. . .

The existing Gateway West proposal would cross about 42 percent federal lands, 10 percent state lands and 48 percent private lands.

The dispute illustrates the challenge utilities are increasingly facing: Satisfying demand for energy, while appeasing private landowners, environmentalists and local governments with clashing fears over how huge projects will affect them. . .

Idaho Power, responsible for the Gateway West section covered by the Idaho counties' alternative, was forced earlier this year to abandon its original plan for another proposed transmission line in southwestern Idaho, after residents of the farming town of Parma complained about private property impacts. . .

Idaho Power proposes four route options for transmission line

Informational meetings have now been held in Grant and Harney counties in Oregon. We haven't heard of any additional meetings to be held in Idaho counties.

One proposal could cut through a portion of Harney County By Debbie Raney Burns Times-Herald 10/28/2009

http://burnstimesherald.info/2009/10/28/idaho-power-proposes-four-route-options-for-transmission-line/

Over the next 20 years energy consumption in the United States is expected to increase by 0.5 percent. To keep ahead of the anticipated need, Idaho Power has proposed construction of a 500 kV transmission line from the Boardman Substation to a new substation in Melba, Idaho, called the Hemingway Substation.

To initiate the proposed project, called the Boardman to Hemingway Project, Idaho Power has begun the siting process, which includes accepting public input. Before developing a route for the lines Idaho Power consideration must be given to the regulatory and engineering criteria, as well as community criteria. At this point, four basic route options have been mapped, with sub-options stemming from these.

One of the options would site the transmission lines through the northwestern portion of Harney County. As it is currently mapped, after this route leaves Boardman and goes through Grant County, five alternate routes have been suggested.

The next step in the planning process will be compiling input and suggestions from the communities involved. Open house meetings were held in John Day and Burns last week to help Idaho Power get a broader scope of what the communities are thinking. Advisory committees from the areas will begin meeting in the next two weeks, to review comments and ideas.

“Our first objective is to find a route that is permitable,” said David Angell, delivery planning manager for Idaho Power. “We’re looking for an acceptable route with the least impact.”

. . . Idaho Power has estimated that the project will be in the construction phase by January 2013, and the line will be in service by June 2015.

Idaho Power Quarterly Report

From Yahoo Finance, 10/29/09, Form 10Q for Idaho Power Co.

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/091029/4964810-q.html

. . . IPC has several major projects in development. These projects are summarized here and are discussed further in "LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES - Capital Requirements - Major Projects."

� Langley Gulch power plant (2012 baseload resource): On September 1, 2009, the IPUC issued an order granting IPC's March 6, 2009, request for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) authorizing IPC to construct, own and operate the Langley Gulch power plant (Langley Gulch). The order also provided for cost recovery and ratemaking assurances requested by IPC related to Langley Gulch. Langley Gulch will be a natural gas-fired combined cycle combustion turbine generating plant with a summer nameplate capacity of approximately 300 MWs and a winter capacity of approximately 330 MWs. The plant will be constructed at an estimated cost of $427 million near New Plymouth, Idaho commencing in summer 2010, and is anticipated to achieve commercial operation by November 1, 2012. The plant will connect to IPC's existing grid.

� Gateway West transmission project: IPC and PacifiCorp are jointly exploring Gateway West, a project to build transmission lines between Windstar, a substation located near Douglas, Wyoming and Hemingway, a substation located in the vicinity of Melba and Murphy, Idaho near Boise. The estimated cost for IPC's share of the project is between $500 million and $600 million. The lines will provide transmission service for existing network and native load customers and their forecasted growth and provide for existing third-party transmission service requests. This project is intended to relieve existing congestion by increasing transmission capacity and to improve reliability to comply with reliability regulations. Initial phases of the project could be completed by 2014.

� Boardman-Hemingway transmission project: IPC is also exploring alternatives for the construction of a 500-kV line between southwestern Idaho at the Hemingway substation and the Northwest at the Boardman substation. IPC estimates construction costs of $600 million and expects to seek partners for up to 50 percent of the project when construction commences. The Boardman-Hemingway Line will provide transmission service for existing network and native load customers and their forecasted growth and provides for existing third-party transmission service requests. This project is intended to relieve existing congestion by increasing transmission capacity and to improve reliability to comply with reliability regulations. IPC estimates the project will be completed in 2015. . .

Wind, CHP and Smart Grid Energy

Three stories on small-power producer contracts and a $47 million DOE Smart Grid award:

(1) Smart Grid Grant Application Selected by DOE http://www.idahopower.com/NewsCommunity/News/upClose/showupClose.cfm?prID=2254

BOISE, Idaho Oct 27th 2009 — IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) subsidiary Idaho Power Company’s Advanced Metering and Customer Systems projects were selected out of 400 received proposals for a potential award of $47 million in funding by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

In a letter to Idaho Power, the DOE stated it is “pleased to inform you that your application in response to the Smart Grid Investment Grant [Funding Opportunity Announcement] has been selected for award negotiations.”

Idaho Power submitted a request for funding in early August to further develop Smart Grid systems by leveraging the Idaho Public Utilities Commission’s approved Advanced Metering Infrastructure deployment. The projects outlined in Idaho Power’s proposal involved a customer-centric approach to achieving measurable results in three integrated areas:
• Grid reliability
• Involved and informed participation by consumers
• Sustainability through integration of renewable resources

“Selection of Idaho Power’s Advanced Metering and Customer Systems projects for potential stimulus funding is an opportunity to provide direct benefits to our owners and our customers,” said Dan Minor, executive vice president of operations for Idaho Power. . .

(2) Feasibility Study for a Combined Heat and Power Plant - Nampa Amalgamated Sugar Factory

The following enclosure appeared with this month's sugar factory payments:

Idaho Power Company will likely announce today (Thursday, October 22, 2009) during their Integrated Resource Plan Advisory Council meeting that they are working with the Amalgamated Sugar Company LLC and the Office of Energy Resources on a feasibility study, which would be funded by Idaho Power and the Office of Energy Resources, for a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant. If approved, the CHP plant would be located at the Nampa factory site. The CHP plant would be fired with natural gas and produce electrical power for Idaho Power's customers and supply steam to the Nampa factory for processing needs. The size of the CHP plant has not been determined, but could be substantial. The CHP plant would likely be owned and operated by Idaho Power.

It should be noted that we are in the very early stages of the feasibility study, so not too much should be made from this development at this time. however, if feasible, the project would provide a sustainable energy source for steam and power that could benefit Amalgamated and Idaho Power and provide environmental benefits to the Treasure Valley.

We will keep you informed of any significant development.

(3) Idaho Power awards three wind power contracts to Exergy Development Group 16th October 2009 http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by_technology/wind/idaho-power-awards-three-wind-power-contracts-to-exergy-development-group.html

US utility company Idaho Power has awarded three 20-year power purchase agreements to local renewable company Exergy Devepment Group, which plans to build three wind farms in the south of the state.

State regulator the Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved the sales agreements for the three projects - Camp Reed, 22.5MW; Payne’s Ferry, 21MW; and Yahoo Creek, 21MW - which are scheduled to commence operation 20 September 2010.

The projects were commissioned under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), which requires electric utilities to offer to buy power produced by qualifying small-power producers. The rate to be paid project developers, called an avoided cost rate, is to be equal to the cost the electric utility avoids if it would have had to generate the power itself or purchase it from another source.

Under the agreements, each of the plants will deliver up to 10MW on an average monthly basis, which is the upper limit of the size of projects that can qualify for PURPA posted rates.

Under the 20-year contracts, Idaho Power will pay the posted rate of $84.40 per MWh during months of normal demand, $102.58 during months of heavy demand during the summer and Christmas holidays, and $61.47 during the low demand months of March to May.

Energy Gateway Project Still Looking For Subscribers

Clearing Up / This Week http://www.newsdata.com/cu/thisweek.html
[CU 1413 / October 26, 2009]

Key to Long-Haul Transmission May Be Solving 'Financial Knot'

PacifiCorp's Gateway Energy Project, which proposes connecting wind energy in Wyoming with markets in the Northwest and Southwest, has yet to attract the interest of power developers. PacifiCorp and Idaho Power--its partner in the Gateway West segment--will continue to develop the line but only to serve their native loads. The lack of a financing model for long-haul wind is also an issue with other transmission projects in the West, and could dampen renewable energy development in distant, but energy-rich Montana and Wyoming.

(Energy News Data/Supply & Demand complete article by subscription only)

An Alternative to your Local Power Company

Baker County's Electric Cooperative http://otec.coop/

Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative (OTEC) is one of Oregon's largest distribution cooperatives. Headquartered in Baker City, Oregon, with district offices in La Grande, John Day, and Burns, OTEC serves approximately 30,000 members in Baker, Union, Grant, and Harney counties with a network of overhead and underground lines over 2,950 miles long. OTEC's distribution system represents an investment of more than $122 million.

OTEC is a consumer-owned cooperative. Its policies are established by a nine-person board of directors of whom each is a bill-paying, resident member elected by fellow members.

OTEC is required to charge a membership fee to maintain its status as a nonprofit cooperative. A membership fee of one cent has been established to meet this requirement.

Each month, consumers get news about OTEC and their electric service through the Ruralite magazine. Members are invited to join their friends and neighbors at the annual meeting held at various locations throughout our serving area each year. Candidates for the board of directors are elected at the annual meeting.

Sounds good, doesn't it?

Alternate Energy Holdings Submits Application for New Idaho Nuclear Plant Site

http://www.pinnacledigest.com/articles/alternate-energy-holdings-submits-application-new-idaho-nuclear-plant-site

Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc. (OTC: AEHI.PK): AEHI submitted a Comprehensive Plan amendment application in Payette County, Idaho for the development of a nuclear power generating facility on approximately 5,100 acres of land. This is a key step to developing an additional nuclear site in Idaho. Our Elmore County rezone application is still in process. During this period other Idaho communities and groups began to learn of the significant economic benefits an advanced nuclear plant brings to areas particularly rural communities. Some US communities have issued statements to the press inviting nuclear developers and several states have even offered tax incentives. . .

Where is the Integrity of the Mapping Process?

The following email was sent to members of the Project Advisory Team who attended the mapping sessions October 1st. We are wondering why the follow-up to a request to include a larger mapping area is limited to Harney and Grant Counties in Oregon, when the repeated request was made to include Ada and Gem Counties in Idaho as well.

The situation is so reliably one-sided that the decision-making appears to be pre-emptive and irrefutable. The only conclusion anyone can draw is that the much-ballyhooed mapping process is completely lacking in integrity.

SIP's Route 4 follows the original all-Idaho advisory committee's approval of Idaho Power's Treasure Valley Electrical Loop to the east of Boise:

The first mapping session for the South Project Advisory Team was held on October 1. Thank you to those who were able to attend. Your participation is greatly appreciated.
All routes that were developed at the Central, North and South mapping sessions are currently being analyzed. A summary of each meeting is being prepared and will be distributed to Project Advisory Team members within the next few weeks.

During the mapping sessions, Project Advisory Team members in eastern Oregon and western Idaho asked Idaho Power to evaluate possible routes in Grant and Harney counties. Idaho Power will hold two open house format public meetings in October to inform the communities in Grant and Harney counties about the Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line Project.

These meetings will be held:

October 21 4 - 7 p.m.
John Day, OR
Senior Citizens Community Center
142 NE Dayton St.
John Day, OR 97845

October 22 4 - 7 p.m.
Burns, OR
Harney County Community Center
484 North Broadway Ave.
Burns, OR 97720

We anticipate our fourth set of Project Advisory Team meetings will be held in early December. We will continue to keep you informed and notify you of the details of these meetings within the next few weeks.

Thank you for your continued involvement in the Community Advisory Process.

We ask again: Where are the dates for meetings in Ada and Gem Counties?

What will talking power meters say about you?

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/10/would-you-sign-up-for-a-discount-with-your-power-company-in-exchange-for-surrendering-control-of-your-thermostat-what-if-it.html
10/0/2009 by Bob Sullivan

Would you sign up for a discount with your power company in exchange for surrendering control of your thermostat? What if it means that, one day, your auto insurance company will know that you regularly arrive home on weekends at 2:15 a.m., just after the bars close?

Welcome to the complex world of the Smart Grid, which may very well pit environmental concerns against thorny privacy issues. If you think such debates are purely philosophical, you’re behind the times.

. . . Up to three-fourths of the homes in the United States are expected to be placed on the “Smart Grid” in the next decade, collecting and storing data on the habits of their residents by the petabyte. And while there’s no reason to believe . . . utilities will share the data with outside firms, some experts are already asking the question: Will saving the planet mean inviting Big Brother into the home? Or at least, as Commerce Secretary Gary Locke recently warned, will privacy concerns be the “Achilles’ heel” of the Smart Grid?

To advocates, the Smart Grid means appliances will work in electric harmony: Icemakers will operate only when the washing machine isn't, TVs will shut off when viewers leave the room, and so on. All of these gadgets will be wirelessly connected to the Internet. Households with solar panels will actually be able to sell their excess energy back to the power company. The result: lower power consumption, lower power bills, people and planet happier. . .

Dark side of a bright idea
But others see a darker side. Utility companies, by gathering hundreds of billions of data points about us, could reconstruct much of our daily lives -- when we wake up, when we go home, when we go on vacation, perhaps even when we draw a hot bath. They might sell this information to marketing companies . . . A credit bureau or insurance company could penalize you because your energy use patterns are similar to those of other troublesome consumers. Or criminals could spy the data, then plan home burglaries with fine-tuned accuracy. . ..

'Unintended consequences'
Larry Ponemon, a privacy auditor who runs The Ponemon Institute, said it's often hard to get consumers and regulators to focus on potential privacy issues ahead of time.

"Most people don't think about the issues until they become a victim of a privacy abuse," he said. "I see the privacy issues here as potentially serious. I'm not sure if I trust the utilities. It's hard to know how that information would be appended to other information and be used against consumers.”

As an example, he cited recent moves by banks to target customers who shop at stores that are frequented by consumers with low credit scores. Some are having the credit limits lowered merely because of where they shop -- a guilt-by-association model that infuriates some consumers. . .

Cost savings, efficient allocation
. . . Early on, many consumers reflexively deleted Internet cookies in part because didn’t understand what they were, and how they helped the consumer experience. They also didn’t trust Web sites after a few embarrassing news stories.

But not all Web firms suffered that fate.

"Amazon is doing well, but they are tracking the books you buy. But they are also making suggestions,” he said. “I think people feel, ‘Hey, you are doing something for me.’ And that’s ok.”

The key, he said, will be the actions of utility companies early on in the Smart Grid upgrade process. They need to “recognize that they will be having complicated conversations with customers” and work to build trust now, before the digital makeover begins in earnest. . .

Already, complaints of high bills
Discounts, like the one offered to Maryland consumers, could certainly serve as the carrot that entices U.S. power users to sign up for smart meters, and agree to allow collection of data. But some consumers already feel new meters are being used as sticks instead of carrots. . .

That's hardly the way to win over a potentially skeptical population. Still, someone will have to pay for installation of two-way electronic sensors in the system. The data mining and marketing opportunities may prove too tempting, since they could fund much of the upgrade. But doing so could create a backlash that could place the entire upgrade in peril. . .

Assumptions & Intimidations

Assumptions made and displayed . . .

When we walked into the mapping instruction meeting Thursday night at the Four Rivers Cultural Center, it was with surprise and disbelief. Again.

A dozen color maps, approx. 6' x 8' detailed with land use, natural resource, cultural and historical and other constraints, were prominently displayed on the walls so we would know where not to put our proposed routes.

The problem was, they were all giant maps of Oregon. You could see a narrow strip of Idaho down the right side. The two Oregon and two Idaho routes proposed by Stop Idaho Power many, many months ago could not even be drawn properly on the maps.

If you wanted to put a route in Idaho, the detailed information on constraints was not available unless you wanted to look at one of the few computers run by a Tetra Tech employee. The meeting itself was attended mostly by Oregon residents, as have been previous meetings. Apparently Idaho residents do not feel the need to be as involved in the process. No Idaho resource officials to speak of, although we requested them earlier.

We drew Idaho routes in the margins of the printed maps of Oregon during the actual Thursday mapping.

Gary Pearson stood up at the beginning of the Wednesday evening meeting and gave an impassioned, and completely justified and necessary speech about the utter lack of attention and consideration given to our repeated requests that Idaho routes be considered along with Oregon routes during the mapping process. It is apparent that we in Oregon are deemed dim enough to accept overbearing assumptions like this.

Mr. Pearson gently indicated what we intend to do if these assumptions continue:

• We can again stop this at a PUC hearing for Need (it has been conclusively stopped and proven once already that it doesn't NEED to be in Oregon,) and
• We can stop this at Oregon's Department of Energy EFSC hearing by testifying that the Community Advisory Project mapping process is flawed because Idaho Power Company intentionally withheld pertinent information based on assumptions within the organization that Oregon will bear the brunt of a line that serves Idaho and Idahoans.

The first maps showing the original route through Idaho were discarded long ago in favor of the obvious NIMBY corridors bulging into Malheur County, setting off fire alarms among the rural citizenry that resulted in the formation of Stop Idaho Power. (To be sure, these routes unaccountably crossed several Idaho population centers and irrigated farmland as well.)

And now, after nearly a year of effort to gain recognition as something barely above illiterate peasants, and even though Exclusive Farm Use land is finally listed under the constraint exclusions, it is clear that the attitude has been, and continues to be, that Boardman to Hemingway is going to stay in Oregon no matter what anyone, hired, helpful or hindering, has to say about it.

We have requested a meeting to address this unacceptable situation and have been assured by the RCBI facilitators that such a meeting will take place.

We expect that a valid and reasonable route through Idaho will be identified and submitted as a part of this process.

Power rate hike plan draws fire from residents

by Larry Meyer Argus Observer Sept. 29, 2009 http://argusobserver.com/articles/2009/09/30/news/doc4ac395b9b8221958325458.txt

ONTARIO — Approving a rate hike by the region’s biggest power company would be a mistake while the county continues to struggle economically.

That was the prevailing sentiment Tuesday night during a hearing of the Oregon Public Utility Commission held at the Ontario Library.

The event attracted a crowd of a half-dozen people who were unanimous in their views regarding the proposed rate boost. (Note: There were more than six people there. A half dozen people had prepared written comments; the meeting was standing room only.)

Challenging Idaho Power’s assertion in its literature that Oregon is growing as well as Idaho, Gary Pearson, a rural Malheur County resident, said customers in Malheur County represent less than 5 percent of Idaho Power’s customer base. The customer growth has been in southern Idaho, he said.

“The population in Malheur County has remained stagnant.” Pearson said. “Future growth potential is very conservative.”

For residential customers, Idaho Power’s proposed overall average rate increase is 37.34 percent, and the overall increase proposed for agriculture irrigation service is 44.69 percent.

This is the first general or base rate increase in about five years, and is the portion of rates that include administrative costs, operating and maintenance expenses and capital investments. However, PUC staff acknowledged that there were rate increases allowed within that five years for the company’s actual costs in providing electricity.

“Idaho Power needs to cut costs of providing service,” Roger Findley, a rural county resident, said. “In the last 20 years the Oregon customer base has not grown. “

l . . Donald Oakes, Ironside, said the proposed increases in the irrigation charges would put some ranchers out of business. His power costs were already $15,000 to $20,000 per year, he said.

At the start of the hearing, Lisa Hardie, administrative law judge, emphasized Idaho Power had just made, a formal request for the increase and no decision has been made and there was a long way to go in the process.

“We’re getting a lot of comments from the (PUC) Web site,” Hardie said.

Her main job is to receive public comment and make sure it all reaches the commission members.

Carla Owings, a member of the PUC staff, said the role of staff is to investigate the request and documentation.

“We do a rigorous review,” Owings said. That review includes looking at all the documents and asking a lot of questions of the company, she said.

“We look at the Idaho Power system,” she said. That includes how the company allocates costs, she said. Hardie said the deadline for a decision on the rate request was in May. Idaho Power representatives were present to answer questions but did not testify. The number of Idaho Power Oregon customers is 19,303.

Pressure grows for PGE to shutter Boardman coal plant

by Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/09/pressure_grows_for_pge_to_shut.html

After more than a year of analysis and public feedback, Oregon's largest utility unveiled a draft plan earlier this month. . . .

But what attendees came to discuss was Boardman.

PGE's controversial proposal includes two new gas-fired power plants and the installation of more than a half billion dollars worth of pollution control equipment to keep the company's workhorse coal plant in northeast Oregon compliant with federal haze reduction rules while cranking out cheap electricity for the next three decades.

While required to keep the plant running, the pollution controls do nothing to reduce the plant's output of carbon dioxide, the main man-made culprit in global warming. Boardman, the state's only coal plant, is the largest stationary source of pollution and CO2 in Oregon.

Ratepayer and environmental advocates think the utility is squandering a golden opportunity to shut down the plant, while underestimating the risks of future carbon taxes on the plant's viability. PGE's analysis, they insist, shows that the utility could replace Boardman's output without a meaningful difference in reliability or cost.

Bottom line, the advocates believe it's too risky to invest $560 million in pollution controls and still face a possible early closure of the plant. . .

On Wednesday, a coalition of ratepayer advocates and environmental groups sent PGE a letter urging the utility to evaluate shutting Boardman in 2020 rather than installing the pollution controls. A 2020 shutdown was the least-cost option that PGE presented to the Department of Environmental Quality last year when the agency was evaluating what controls PGE should be required to install. . .

IPC Rate Increase Comments Tues 6-8 p.m. Ontario Library

Possible topics of comment for Judge Lisa Hardie:

1) How have electrical rates affected you in the last few years? Irrigation "surcharges" for our farm increased our electrical costs 25% for 2008, over the previous six years.

2) Remember Malheur County's poverty rate is 17%, the highest in Oregon. We are considered a marginal income area.

3) Malheur County's customer base is a great deal smaller than Idaho's and has not grown in 20 years. This is an agriculture-based economy, and it will not be changing soon, due to Oregon's strict land use laws.

4) As documented in this blog, electricity use has fallen across the country because of the recession. A 44% increase over last year's surcharges on our business, and 22% increase in our household electrical bill, will be a blow to our ability to hire and purchase locally. These rates do not go down, as other market-driven fuel and food costs do.

If you can't make it to the open house to turn in your oral or written comments, please leave comments online at http://apps.puc.state.or.us/commentIdahoPower/message.htm

Make sure you thank the Oregon PUC for responding to our request to hold the hearing in Ontario!!

South Project Advisory Team Mapping Meetings

Wednesday, Sept. 30th Evening Meeting

4:00 p.m. Welcome

4:15 p.m. Team Business

4:45 p.m. Presentation of public meeting outcomes

5:00 p.m. Review criteria and how routes will be analyzed

5:30 p.m. Explanation of mapping workshop

6:00 p.m. Dinner

6:30 p.m. Demonstration and mapping session questions and answers (optional)

Thursday, Oct. 1st Mapping Workshop

The all-day mapping workshop will be divided into three sessions to make the best use of attendees' time. PAT members will be asked to sign up for a time in advance:

• Session 1 - 7 to 10 a.m.
• Session 2 - 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Session 3 - 5 to 8 p.m.

Please arrive on time. Contact Amanda Edge at 208-377-9688 or Amanda@rcbi.net if you plan to attend, or to schedule an alternate time.

Idaho Power and Jean Findley will be available all day.

Two identical mapping stations will be at the workshop. Each station will include:

• A map of the specific project area
• Large reference maps showing cultural and visual resources, land use, physical and natural resources, fish and wildlife resources, exclusion areas, and topography
• Geographic Information System (GIS) stations with a computerized database of opportunities and constraints
• Community criteria
• Mapping reminders and instructions

Team members may choose to lay out routes on the paper maps or work with GIS operators to lay out routes at the computer stations. Idaho Power staff will be availablel to answer questions. County planners have been invited to attend.

Idaho Power will keep a detailed record of all routes. Team members will be asked to provide a written description and comments for the routes they identify. Your comments may simply be that you choose a route already mapped.

After the mapping session, Idaho Power will analyze each route using the regulatory, engineering and community criteria. The analysis will be presented at the next set of PAT meetings. The teams then will begin revising and eliminating routes. Additional mapping sessions may be needed.

Download a petition to support the four SIP mapping routes HERE

Download the six general constraint maps: http://boardmantohemingway.com/documents/SPAT3_GeneralConstraintsMap.pdf

More information on the mapping meetings:

http://boardmantohemingway.com/idaho_power_CAP_PAT_south.aspx

Critical meeting

by Larry Meyer 9/22/2009 ttp://argusobserver.com/articles/2009/09/22/news/doc4ab90a25e7a8b385691502.txt

Ontario — Local resident Roger Findley summed up one clear reality for members of two regional grass-roots leagues opposed to the route of a proposed Idaho Power line Monday night.

There are things that can be done and things that can’t, the chair of Stop Idaho Power explained to the crowd at an informational meeting held at the Grange Hall.

Findley’s words were all the more poignant when framed against the background of a critical public mapping meeting slated Oct. 1 at Four Rivers Cultural Center. At the Oct. 1 session, area residents can draw lines on a map regarding where they think IP’s proposed 500-kilovolt line should go.

An earlier mapping session was held last week in Baker City.

Findley and a group of area residents spearheaded an opposition movement to Idaho Power’s plan to build a 500-kilovolt power line from Boardman to a substation near Melba because early blueprints placed the structure right through prime agriculture land in Malheur County.

Findley’s group, though, was not the only one with an issue regarding the power line. Other grass-roots movements cropped up in Baker County and in Idaho.

This year, Idaho Power reached out to the opposition groups and created community advisory teams. These teams were designed to bridge the gap between landowners and concerned residents and the power firm.
“Make your lines as buildable as possible,” Garth Johnson, vice chair of Move Idaho Power From Baker County, told the crowd Monday night.

When outlining their proposed routes people should try get by or around as many problems as possible, Johnson said.

Sept. 30, Idaho Power representatives will meet with members of the area community advisory team to go over the public mapping process and then Oct. 1, the mapping begins at 7 a.m. and goes to 8 p.m. in three different sessions, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. When they map, people will need to give their address, mark the route with a number they will be assigned and give the reason for choice.

“We just proposed two routes,” Johnson said of his group.

People can piggy-back on lines already drawn, John Faw, Vale, said.

“People can find the maps on Idaho Power’s Web site,” he said.

Idaho Power representatives said several people choosing a particular route will give credence to a line, Faw said.

“Stop Idaho Power is recommending four routes, two in Oregon, two in Idaho,” Findley said. “We believe one of two routes in Oregon will be eliminated.” Information will be available on where those routes are if people want to support them, he said.

Before the mapping session, the Oregon Public Utility Commission will be in Ontario Sept. 29 to hold an open house to hear from customers of Idaho Power on its proposed rate increase.

The company is seeking a 22. 6 percent general rate increase, including an approximate 37 percent boost for residential service and an approximate increase of 44 percent for irrigation users. The open house is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Ontario Community Library. It will be an informal session in which the public will be able to ask questions and give testimony for the record. Written testimony will be accepted.

North Team Mapping

Garth Johnson, VP of Baker County's Move Idaho Power, attended the SIP meeting last night. Below are the yellow powerline routes resulting from their mapping exercise with Idaho Power. Click maps for larger images. The maps are numbered 1-6, except for Map 2 which had no line on it. Two main routes are C-6 and C-9, west of Burns and south of Unity. John Faw of SIP was also at this meeting. He drew a route east from Boardman and down Lewiston through Idaho.

Legend

Map 1

Map 3

Map 4

Map 5

Map 6

Power lines planned from the plains to the Pacific, but not without resistance

Two projects, considered vital to the region's future power needs, can't seem to find the path of least resistance by Rocky Barker 9/12/2009

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/898132.html

Idaho Power Co. and Rocky Mountain Power, who want to snake a $7 billion network of 190-foot transmission towers across the West, face a tangled matrix of state and local barriers as challenging as the hardships faced by the pioneers who traveled much the same route on the Oregon Trail a century and a half ago.

The 1,500-mile route between Boardman, Ore., and Windstar station in Wyoming would connect power plants to energy users for decades to come.

"These are projects everybody needs and nobody wants," said Lisa Grow, Idaho Power's vice president for transmission.

The opposition - which rose to a fever pitch in places like Parma and Kuna and sparked a regional response along Idaho's southern border - has been a wake-up call for Idaho Power, which has not built a major transmission line in more than 20 years.

"It was impressive," Grow said. "We don't want to steamroll these people and leave a legacy of bad feelings."

The companies have the power to condemn private property to build the line, but to do that, they have to get approval from each of the counties in Idaho and from the states of Wyoming and Oregon.

If they can't get the local OKs, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can step in and force the issue - but along a route of its choosing. That's an alternative that all sides hope to avoid.

Looming behind the scenes is one of the country's most powerful laws. Where the transmission lines are built could determine whether to list the greater sage grouse as an endangered species - which would have wide economic impacts across the region. . .

FINDING THE ROUTE IS PROVING TOUGH

When Roger and Jean Findley learned that Idaho Power was considering routing the lines across their farmland, they wanted to know more.

"They hardly gave us the time of day," said Roger Findley, an Ontario farmer and instructor at Treasure Valley Community College.

The angry couple and their neighbors organized the group Stop Idaho Power to force the Boise utility to reconsider its plans for the 500,000-volt line between Murphy and Boardman, Ore. Hundreds of people turned out for public meetings, and the group got the ear of Oregon political leaders.

Homeowners and civic leaders in Parma and Kuna joined the chorus.

Idaho Power listened, scrapped the proposed route and is working with Findley's group and other communities to draft a new route and alternatives. It met with the public last month in Marsing, Parma and Ontario.

"It makes you feel good when you see that the system works," Findley said.

But if Idaho Power moves the lines away from Findley's farm, the company simply will run into different opponents.

And the changes make a difference - for Idaho Power and the energy users who pay the company's rates.

For every mile added, Idaho Power's costs increase between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, estimates Paul Kjellander, director of Idaho's Office of Energy Resources.

PRIVATE LAND VERSUS WILD LAND

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide in February 2010 whether to propose listing sage grouse in 11 states. But the BLM won't have its draft environmental impact statement
completed at least until spring.

That means every new alternative that increases development on public lands increases the chance the bird may be listed. . .

THE ROUTE HAS TO BE BROKERED PIECEMEAL

Kjellander, Idaho's top energy official, has to depend on the power of persuasion to keep the discussion moving, since Idaho has little state authority over the process.

Unlike in Oregon, where one central panel can make the decision, Idaho's complex web of oversight is just another hurdle that Idaho Power has to navigate. . .

General Meeting Reminder

Don't forget the general SIP meeting Monday night, Sept. 21st, 7:00 p.m. at the Boulevard Grange. We will be discussing the mapping meetings set for Sept. 30th and Oct. 1st, and the PUC rate hike meeting to be held in the Ontario Library Tuesday, Sept. 29th from 6-8 p.m.

IPC Rate Increase Open House

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF OREGON

In the Matter of

IDAHO POWER COMPANY

Request for a General Rate Revision.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT OPEN HOUSE

Idaho Power Company (Idaho Power) seeks to increase its rates for electric service in Oregon. To provide an opportunity for customers to comment on Idaho Power’s request or to ask questions, the Public Utility Commission of Oregon (Commission) will hold an open house, as follows:

DATE: Tuesday, September 29, 2009

TIME: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

PLACE: Ontario Community Library

388 SW 2nd Ave.

Ontario, OR 97914

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Lisa D. Hardie

The public is invited to attend the Public Comment Open House at anytime from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to learn more about the Commission’s review of Idaho Power’s request. Open House meetings are informal; attendees can come and go as they please, take information, ask questions, and make comments for the record. Members of Commission Staff, Idaho Power, and customer groups will be available to answer questions from the public during this time. Interested persons not able to attend the open house may mail written comments to the Commission at:

Attn.: UE 213
Administrative Hearings Division
Public Utility Commission of Oregon
PO Box 2148
Salem, OR 97308-2148

Comments may also be sent through the Commission’s website at: http://www.puc.state.or.us under Idaho Power Rate Request.

Customers may call the Administrative Hearings Division for more information at (503) 378-6607.

Dated this 9th day of September, 2009.

Download the document HERE

DLCD Letter of Support

Department of Land Conservation and Development
635 Capitol Street NE, Suite 150
Salem, Oregon 97301-2540
www.oregon.gov/LCD

September 15, 2009

Eric Hackett
Idaho Power Project Analyst

RE: Boardman to Hemingway 500 kV Transmission Line

Dear Eric:

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the proposed Boardman to Hemingway 500 kV Transmission Line project. As the route was initially envisioned, the transmission line extended through Malheur, Baker, Union, Umatilla and Morrow counties in Oregon. I understand that the project has been temporarily suspended while Idaho Power conducts public outreach through its Community Advisory Process (CAP). I also understand that the purpose of the CAP is to develop an alternate route in response to community concerns.

The Department of Land Conservation and Development strongly recommends that Idaho Power consider a number of significant local and regional impacts as it decides where to site the proposed transmission line.

The economy of eastern Oregon counties is strongly tied to agriculture and outdoor recreation. The siting of a major transmission line through these counties would have significant and long-term consequences for several counties and cities, including potential adverse impacts to high-value agriculture, sensitive wildlife habitat and the recreational tourism industry.

My staff has been in contact with the planning directors of the affected counties, who feel strongly that any proposed transmission corridor should avoid high-value farmland and scenic Oregon view sheds. This office has also received several letters from farmers in Malheur and Baker counties, including a letter from the Malheur County Onion Growers Association, all of which express concerns with the routing of the transmission line through private farmland in the Treasure Valley and Baker Valley. The letters raise specific concerns about the likely need to alter irrigation practices, modify aerial application of chemicals, and change tilling practices, all of which would disrupt and add additional costs to farming operations. In addition, high-value farmland would be lost. We share these concerns from counties and farm interests.

Oregon’s statewide land use planning program as set forth in statewide planning goal 3, “Agricultural Lands,” and ORS Chapter 215 requires counties to protect agricultural land, with preference given to high-value soils such as those found in the Baker, Grande Ronde and Treasure valleys and the irrigated row crop-producing areas of Umatilla and Morrow counties. These areas boast some of the best farmland in Oregon and are subject to strict safeguards protecting them from conflicting nonfarm development. The farmers who are stewards of Oregon’s working landscape now and into the future deserve our commitment to make every effort to accommodate agricultural production needs.

Other parties, including the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, raise concerns with potential impacts to sensitive wildlife habitat, including highly sensitive sage grouse habitat. Statewide planning goal 5 calls for local jurisdictions to inventory and protect a variety of resources including wildlife habitat, wetlands and riparian corridors. In some cases, the best wildlife habitat or natural areas are found on land that would be considered poorly-suited for agricultural production. In eastern Oregon, significant areas of sensitive habitat are also located largely on public lands. Idaho Power must work to find an appropriate balance between protection of agricultural lands and wildlife habitat.

Tourism also provides a significant contribution to eastern Oregon’s rural economy. The tourism and outdoor recreation industry also has tremendous opportunity for growth. Statewide land use planning protections maintain and enhance recreation opportunities such as the proposed 870-mile multi-county Blue Mountain Heritage Trail, the Oregon Trail and its historic view shed, and the Snake River through Hells Canyon. The siting of a major transmission corridor in any of these areas could significantly detract from the scenic, cultural and historic values of these unique places, and could impact tourism and economic values as well.

Thanks again for the opportunity to comment and please enter this letter into the record of proceedings on this matter. I would be happy to answer any questions or provide any additional information to you. You may contact me at 503-373-0050 ext. 280 or richard.whitman@state.or.us.

Sincerely,
Richard Whitman
Director

ec: Adam Bless, ODOE
Rep. Greg Smith
Bob Valdez, OPUC
Rep. Cliff Bentz
Lucas Lucero, BLM
Scott Fairley, Governor’s Office
Mark Bennett/Holly Kearns, Baker County Planning
Jim Johnson, ODA
Roy Elicker, ODFW
Jon Beal, Malheur County Planning
Todd Davidson, Oregon Tourism Commission
Hanley Jenkins, Union County Planning
Tamra Mabbott, Umatilla County Planning
LCDC Commissioners
Carla McLane, Morrow County Planning
DLCD regional and technical staff
Sen. Dave Nelson
Rep. Bob Jenson
Sen. Ted Ferrioli

Download the letter HERE